Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814 or the First American Settlement on the Pacific eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 227 pages of information about Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814 or the First American Settlement on the Pacific.

Messrs. Halsey and Wallace having been sent on the
23d, with fourteen men, to establish a trading post
on the Willamet, and Mr. M’Dougal being confined
to his room by sickness, Mr. Clapp and I were left
with the entire charge of the post at Astoria, and
were each other’s only resource for society.
Happily Mr. Clapp was a man of amiable character,
of a gay, lively humor, and agreeable conversation.
In the intervals of our daily duties, we amused ourselves
with music and reading; having some instruments and
a choice library. Otherwise we should have passed
our time in a state of insufferable ennui, at this
rainy season, in the midst of the deep mud which surrounded
us, and which interdicted the pleasure of a promenade
outside the buildings.

CHAPTER XIII.

Uneasiness respecting the “Beaver.”—­News of the Declaration of War
between Great Britain and the United States.—­Consequences of that
Intelligence.—­Different Occurrences.—­Arrival of two Canoes of the
Northwest Company.—­Preparations for abandoning the
Country.—­Postponement of Departure.—­Arrangement with Mr. J.G.
M’Tavish.

The months of October, November, and December passed
away without any news of the “Beaver,”
and we began to fear that there had happened to her,
as to the Tonquin, some disastrous accident. It
will be seen, in the following chapter, why this vessel
did not return to Astoria in the autumn of 1812.

On the 15th of January, Mr. M’Kenzie arrived
from the interior, having abandoned his trading establishment,
after securing his stock of goods in a cache.
Before his departure he had paid a visit to Mr. Clark
on the Spokan, and while there had learned the news,
which he came to announce to us, that hostilities
had actually commenced between Great Britain and the
United States. The news had been brought by some
gentlemen of the Northwest Company, who handed to them
a copy of the Proclamation of the President to that
effect.

When we learned this news, all of us at Astoria who
were British subjects and Canadians, wished ourselves
in Canada; but we could not entertain even the thought
of transporting ourselves thither, at least immediately:
we were separated from our country by an immense space;
and the difficulties of the journey at this season
were insuperable: besides, Mr. Astor’s
interests had to be consulted first. We held,
therefore, a sort of council of war, to which the clerks
of the factory were invited pro forma, as they
had no voice in the deliberations. Having maturely
weighed our situation; after having seriously considered
that being almost to a man British subjects, we were
trading, notwithstanding, under the American flag:
and foreseeing the improbability, or rather, to cut
the matter short, the impossibility that Mr. Astor
could send us further supplies or reinforcements while
the war lasted, as most of the ports of the United
States would inevitably be blockaded by the British;